What are backlinks & why they matter
Backlinks (also called inbound links) are hyperlinks from one website to another. They serve as signals to search engines like Google and others that your content is valuable and trusted. The more high-quality, relevant backlinks a site has, the better its potential to rank in search. For example:
A do‐follow link passes value (often called “link equity” or “link juice”).
A no‐follow link doesn’t pass the same ranking value—but can still bring traffic and diversity.
But quantity alone doesn’t work—search engines penalize link farms, spammy reciprocal links and irrelevant mass link building.
Principles for choosing good backlink sites
When evaluating a site to get a backlink from, consider:
Domain Authority / Domain Rating (how trusted the domain is)
Relevance (does the linking site relate to your niche, industry or theme?)
Traffic and real engagement (a link from a site with no traffic is less valuable)
Link type (is it trusted, editorial, placed naturally?)
Avoid spammy or manipulative practices like massive reciprocal linking or link farms.
As one SEO discussion puts it:
“The best type are natural links from high authority domains with tons of backlinks and traffic. But they are hard to earn.”
Categories of backlink sites
Here are common categories of sites you can target:
| Type | Description | Example Sites |
|---|---|---|
| Guest posting / contributor platforms | You contribute content and in return you can include links. | Site like Business 2 Community, or other niche blogs. |
| Web-2.0 / profile creation sites | Create your own presence/profiles on high-authority platforms and include your link. | e.g., Medium, Tumblr, Blogger, About.me. |
| Directories / citations / listings | Business or site listings that also allow you to include your website link. | Local directories, niche directories. |
| Social bookmarking / community platforms | Share content, links or engage in communities. | Reddit (with care), Flipboard, etc. |
| Resource pages / editorial links | Being cited or included in someone else’s curated resource list or article. | Relevant industry resource pages. |
Top Backlink Sites & Platforms to Consider
Below are some of the high-quality platforms and sites that are often cited as good sources of backlinks:
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) — For media / journalist queries; if your contribution is accepted you can get high quality links.
SourceBottle — Similar to HARO, especially focused on Australia/NZ but usable globally.
BizSugar — A community platform for small business where you can share content and get backlinks.
Web 2.0 platforms like WordPress.com, Tumblr, Weebly — good for creating profile/blog pages with your link.
Profile / community platforms like GitHub, Evernote, Medium — useful for profile/backlink creation.
